First, the background. A couple of days ago, the Times-Picayune ran a feature about St. Mark’s Catholic Church and School in Chalmette. That would be in St. Bernard Parish, of course. They ran a photo of a classroom filled with hurricane and flood debris that has not been touched since Katrina hit over 18 months ago. Catholics are incensed, of course, but most have come to accept that due to the scope of this disaster, the decreased population, and the limited funds of the diocese, some of their churches are closed forever.

Thursday, this letter to the editor ran. The writer is listed as Rita Oalmann of the community of St. Bernard.

“I was appalled to see that St. Mark Catholic Church in Chalmette had not been cleaned out yet.”

“The Archdiocese of New Orleans should have called the Baptists. They would have cleaned it out, no questions asked, as they have been and still are doing at other locations in St. Bernard Parish.”

You can’t buy that kind of great publicity.

And in other news….

The executive director of the NBA Players Association (that’s pro basketball, Ginger) is a fellow by the name of Billy Hunter. Apparently, he’s the sort who pops off about things he knows nothing of. (There’s a lot of that going around.) A few days ago, Hunter was in all the news spouting off about the NBA’s plans to have the league’s All-Star game in our city in March of 2008. He doubted the city could host the kind of crowds they would bring in or that the city’s police force could keep everyone safe. He even suggested someone ought to file a lawsuit to block the event’s coming to New Orleans.

Once the world started erupting around him–that is, when the lovers and supporters of New Orleans came down all over him–he began to backtrack. Tuesday he said he is now convinced the city can handle the event and that he has seen no indicators otherwise. Nor has he even been to New Orleans since the hurricane. Which means he spoke out of pure ignorance.

Locals point out that last month, the city hosted 700,000 visitors for Mardi Gras, which figures out to 14 times more than the 50,000 who attended the All-Star game in Las Vegas recently.

They say Mr. Hunter is arriving next week to see New Orleans for himself.

Several front-page articles in Thursday’s Times-Picayune sort of highlight the local situation….

The annual meeting of the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society brought 24,600 people to town February 25-March 2, which means they’re still here. The conventioneers who were interviewed by the newspaper are finding their preconceptions inaccurate, and are pleasantly surprised to see businesses back up and running, hotels doing fine, and the service level fantastic.

The president is in town today. They say he will tour a school and talk about education. Meanwhile, Democrats in the House of Representatives are considering a $250 million program of financial incentives to teachers and principals to stay in or move to New Orleans. The plan would pay $500/month for housing assistance and another program would grant up to $500 million to universities and colleges closed by Katrina’s floodwaters.

My first and main reaction to this is: it feels great not to be forgotten down here.

That’s not to deny that much of the city is still in terrible shape and remains years away from being “normal.” The visitors who meet at the Morial Convention Center mainly see the downtown area where things are in pretty fair shape. Not perfect, though. Sewell Cadillac, a mainstay of the downtown business district since forever, has recently shut down and locked its doors. Not a good sign.

Colin Powell told a Tulane crowd Wednesday that every American owes it to his country to join the rebuilding effort in this city. He said, “I don’t think we’ve done a good enough job of funneling all the resources to the places and people needing them.”

Powell says his church has sent volunteers this way, and as a trustee of Howard University, he has been finding money to send 600 students to New Orleans for volunteer work this spring.

Powell said, “New Orleans is an American city. It’s our country. All of us have an obligation….”

Meanwhile, in Wednesday night’s news, more contractors are being charged with fraud, for taking home-owners’ money and hightailing it to Florida or somewhere.

Life goes on.

Thanks for your prayers.

Saturday morning at 11 am, the First Baptist Church of Norco holds its dedication services for its new facilities. It’s also celebrating its new direction. You’re invited. I will miss it, unfortunately. I’ll be speaking to hundreds of girls from all over the state at the annual M-Jam (short for Mission Jamboree) being held all day Saturday at Louisiana College in Pineville.